


Holding On For A Hero

by Leonawriter



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: F/M, Plus One Bisexual Disaster, Post-Dirge of Cerberus, Pre-Relationship, Romance, connected oneshots, previous relationships not ignored
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 16:38:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17207039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: She isn't the first person he'd looked at like this - but then, it's hardly news that he's not who she'd ever imagined either. For a knight in shining armour, Tifa thinks Genesis would hardly be her first choice.As himself - well. People have a habit of growing on you in the strangest ways.





	1. First

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing these the other day (that is, over the Christmas period) and just started falling for the dynamics I found, and how the pairing would work.
> 
> Like I said in the tags, the fics are more or less a lot like prompt-fics, often with single-word themes - at least, that's how they've started out. But they also all follow the same - or a similar enough - timeline (one that I have ideas for, at that), and that follows on from certain of my previous stories as well. Some events from my Genesis/Cloud fics might be referenced here, but just like in those, Cloud's on the aro/ace spectrum, and that's probably going to shine through.

She isn't the first girl he's looked at in this way, either in passing or for longer-lasting feelings; that dubious honour went to a girl who'd been around his own age before he'd even given SOLDIER a second glance. She'd looked pretty in her Solstice finery and she'd been fun to watch dance, and fun to dance with, and at this point he could barely even remember her name, it'd been so long.

He thinks she's still alive, maybe. She left town long before he came back home with a platoon of deserted SOLDIERs and a single doctor.

Then again, he thinks of Geostigma, and remembers the way that Deepground had surfaced not too long ago, and can't help but wonder. He  _hopes_ , though, because even if they never meet again it would be a weight off his mind to know that there was even one person he had respected in some way, that he hadn't inadvertently hurt or killed.

Tifa was none of these things, because he'd looked at Cloud first, the same way he's looking at her now. Because she's younger than him but not enough that it makes things strange, and he's never seen her in anything as meaninglessly pretty as country village Solstice finery, had never seen her dance a Banoran jig, and he'd never tripped on his own feet when trying to follow her steps.

She wasn't the first. So many things that he looked at her for, he had looked at others for before; the way she fought, the way she laughed, the way she got angry. The way she could keep up with him, and stay interested, even if she tended to translate things into different metaphors than he was used to, all dragons and wolves and cold weather to his apples and LOVELESS and caves.

But she was the first  _Tifa_ he had ever fallen for.

Tifa, who knew but didn't care that he had been the first of the Jenova Project, or that he had been a SOLDIER First Class, or any of the prestige or dubious merit that either fact bestowed. 

It was alright, because he was hardly the first person she had looked at like that either, but they were adults, and that was life - the ability to grow, to move on. 

Genesis would just be grateful that he  _could_ live long enough to love and love again.


	2. Red

The first time she'd ever seen him, all he'd been was a blur of red - red and black, and then he was gone, and all she'd remember was that someone had hurt the trooper who'd tried so hard to protect her, when she was just the guide. She'd be told later that the guy had been fine, with a bit of rest, but it'd still upset her, even overshadowed as it had been with the events of just a week later.

It takes her a while to place the face, the name, and everything together after she sees Cloud warily introduce a redheaded man in a tattered red coat who'd looked downright exhausted. But once she had, it'd been hard to stay calm and resist the urge to see how well her Zangan style stood up to a SOLDIER of Genesis' calibre, when the man had been holed up for so long, out of practice, because she wants  _so badly_  to hurt him, for hurting Cloud and for making everything the way that it was.

She holds herself back, though, and she hates herself for it as much as she doesn't, because she can see the exhaustion in those glowing blue eyes, and she can see the way he holds himself, the way he checks the exits and the doors, the way he makes his very existence a challenge, to prove that he's capable of taking up this space again-

And there it is, she thinks with resignation, some weeks in, and she knows that she's a lost cause, because she sees the way that he's brittle not even like glass, but like the sheer ice that formed over the windows and the waterfalls; one strong hit and he'd shatter into countless pieces, and she could already see the cracks.

If that had meant that she thought he was  _dangerous_ , then she wouldn't let him be around Marlene or Denzel, let alone stay in Seventh Heaven at all. 

No, that wasn't entirely true, though. Genesis was still SOLDIER, no matter how much she might hate that even now, even though she knew there had to have been some  _good_  ones, like Zack had been. He'd still hurt her in the past, still hurt Cloud, no matter how much she eyed the way he looked at Cloud  _now_ , and... more even than that, she found herself wondering at times that he might be a danger to  _himself._

She watches the way that he begins to relax, piece by piece and fraction by fraction of the sheet ice beginning to melt, giving way to Genesis' natural fires, and she can't help but be warmed by them - it's hard not to smile when she sees him talking to Marlene in the same kind of way Cloud does, like she's worthy of the same respect as anyone else, and especially when she whispers something to him, and he blinks as though he's completely blindsided by whatever she'd said.

She watches him spar with Cloud, and part of her still shivers at the sight of that wing, remembering being shoved so carelessly out of the way, as well as the few sparse things that Cloud's told any of them about the last time Sephiroth had come back - but she also can't help but be reminded of the way he could play the gentleman, the and way he'd been seen to use that wing in ways that were so  _mundane_ , so normal... almost as if it wasn't something to be horrified by at all.

He catches the way that she's watching him, one day, and she rolls her eyes because he thinks she wants  _that_  kind of attention.

Tifa puts her gloves on for a spar of her own, unable to ignore the way Genesis' eyes light up at the sight, and finds herself thrilled by the prospect as well, knowing how to fight a SOLDIER-strength swordsman thanks to her own spars with Cloud all those years ago, which they'd picked up again only recently. 

The first few minutes were nothing like what had happened with Cloud; neither of them had faced the other before, not even in phantom memories. Their styles were different. And yet, after a little dancing around, she found that he adapted well enough, as if he'd fought someone who'd used mainly fists before, only to almost forget what it was like.

Well, Tifa was long since through with being compared to ghosts, no matter who Genesis was thinking of, and she doubled up on her offence, letting loose an assault of blows that had him reacting on the defensive. 

She has him pinned when she realises that he isn't looking at her to figure out where her next move is coming from, just sort of staring straight ahead into some stupid middle-distance, mouth open slightly as if he were about to say something and forgot halfway through, and she'd have hit him right there and then if it weren't for the way that, when he realised she knew he was staring - or that he realised he  _was_  staring - he went red in the face himself, which he'd hardly become close to even in all of the exertion they'd been through. Damn SOLDIERs.

She pushes off and away from him, and damn the way he was grinning after her, because-

Tifa had been leered at before, and she'd had her physical strength respected before, she knew the difference. 

That had been  _none_  of those things. 

And what made her the most confused, was that she'd seen him look at Cloud like that, once or twice, and she could remember - long ago now, it felt - daydreaming of Cloud looking at  _her_  like that, though it'd never come. Cloud had always looked at her with respect, and he'd get heated up over a good fight, but...

She remembers that one moment, and it's with mortification and confused feelings that she realises that he  _hadn't been the only one_  with a red face from more than just the workout.


	3. Ordinary

After the initial shock of meeting and realisation of just  _who Genesis Rhapsodos was_ , or rather, who he'd  _been,_  had worn off, every so often Tifa still found herself watching him to make sure that they hadn't, well... made some sort of bad mistake. That she'd wake up in the middle of the night to find someone dead, or worse.

It'd been a gamble, after all. They could've just put the man in Reeve's hands, for him to deal with. He'd have found a place for the former SOLDIER to stay, something for him to do, kept him out of Tifa's hair.

They hadn't gone with that in the end, tempting though it'd been. What if no one strong enough was around if he suddenly needed to be taken down? If he hurt someone? 

Just as much... there was the fear that wherever he went, the distrust for SOLDIER could have served to only isolate him further, potentially turning him into the threat that he had been only years before.

She'd heard tales. Stories. From the moment the shock had died down.

Cid, with his perspective as an ex-Shinra employee who'd only stayed at the fringes of their politics, yet hadn't been able to miss the Genesis War. 

Reeve, much like Cid, although he'd been able - with tired eyes - to recite a litany of the damages he'd suffered to Midgar, and a haunted look that suggested all too well how much it had cost to rebuild. 

Yuffie - who'd loudly complained over the phone about how she didn't trust him, didn't like him, and didn't want to go anywhere  _near_  him, and even when she finally did, it wasn't without giving not only the new guest but also Tifa herself the evil eye the entire time. 

Cloud had just shrugged. But then, everything from that time in his life was still patchy, with spots of memory showing through like a roof that wouldn't keep its heat in, so the snow sometimes melted on the tiles.

For a while things had been touch and go. Arguments came up, routines differed, people stepped on each other's toes in one way or another. They found out that Genesis was claustrophobic the same week they found out he had specific opinions on apples. She found him in a lengthy discussion over materia with Cloud one day, while her ears were still ringing from one of the fights they'd had. A single afternoon once had him frustrate her to the point where she wondered if he was doing it on  _purpose_  with those impromptu recitations of his, only to later find him poring through the various books Cloud had amassed before he'd disappeared during the Geostigma epidemic, a determined expression on his face while the pen he was holding tapped and clicked whenever it wasn't writing notes.

He was, Tifa had long since decided, a man full of contradictions.

Even so, it was... strange, she supposed, to see him settling in. Seeing him like this.

Because eccentricities aside - they all had a fair few of those, so they hardly counted - it was becoming more and more of a common thing to see him growing accustomed to the bar, to have him help pick out the best wines and ciders that he remembered and that were still around, or to have him with his coat and gloves draped across a chair as he washed up the dishes from the night before.

Before she knew it, she wasn't seeing him as the threat she'd once thought of him as. He was just... part of the family. Or she'd like to think so, at least.

Only a few weeks ago he'd barely been able to stay in the same room as Denzel for more than a minute or so without one of them storming out, and now... now, they were just over there, and Denzel was holding a carved stick while Genesis of all people adjusted his grip on it.

 _If he wants to be able to fight, then he should at least be able to defend himself, not swing something around when he has no idea what he's doing,_  he'd said to her. As if he took it as a matter of personal pride.

And tomorrow, they'd all be going shopping, for normal, ordinary things, which was always an experience. 

Seeing Cloud doing normal things was almost like a small triumph, every time; she knew how hard it was to readjust, and she was  _proud_  of every step he took to reclaim himself, to go back to being the Cloud she knew.

Seeing Genesis do the same sorts of things and get into an argument with Marlene over which cereal they should be getting simply felt  _surreal._


	4. Communication

It isn't the first time after he and Cloud had sparred and she had been able to see the easy way that they had communicated through their fight that she'd had to take herself aside, and nor is it after the second. But the first time she does, it's like the breaking of a dam, and she realises that she thinks that something has been  _lost_ , and she hadn't even realised until afterwards, after she knew that she wouldn't be able to get it back to how it was... wouldn't be able to compare.

She'll always remember sitting there, and then hearing footsteps, and then without knowing why, or any other warning, he's sitting down next to her. Because of course he would have heard, and if he'd heard, then so would Cloud have - and isn't that just  _great._  Tifa, the jealous third wheel.

And yet, she doesn't think of herself so much as jealous, as- 

"He  _talks_  to you," she bites out.  _Frustrated_ , that was it. She almost doesn't care if Cloud himself is listening, a little too far away for her to tell. "When he gets upset with you, he  _says_  so, he doesn't treat you like you're some- like you're-"

"He treats me the same way you do," Genesis says bluntly. Then, after a good long minute's worth of silence- "He's hardly afraid of disappointing me, so he doesn't treat my respect as something so fragile as to be broken by a good fight."

He doesn't mean like the one they'd just had, she knows, but if anything, that just makes her  _more_  frustrated, because how could she get Cloud to realise that she didn't  _care_  what he said or did around her? All she wanted was to see him happy, and being honest with himself... and with her, more.

"I just don't understand why he can't see that doesn't  _matter_  to me. I'm not going to stop caring about him if he says a few things I don't like!"

Nothing had changed how she felt in all these years, in all they'd been through, so why...?

Genesis snorted.

"You're all he has left. Not all the time and new friends in the world will change  _that_. And believe it or not, that makes things  _harder._ Not easier."

She opened her mouth to snap at him, because how dare he assume he knew Cloud better than she did? That he  _understood_ _?_  Shinra had taken so much from so many people, but they'd taken her entire  _town_ -

He'd  _been_  SOLDIER, been a part of it, if anything, he was just as much to blame - if not more - for everything,  _everything,_ and here she was, talking to him like that was forgiven, forgotten, and yet - and  _yet._

"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"

Even as unable as she was to forget that in spite of being part of the problem, he'd lost almost everything too, there was bitterness in her words.

" _My friend, your desire is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess..._ I find myself wishing I'd had you around before. We need your attitude, Tifa. Just because it takes more patience to get through to someone..." Genesis shook his head. "I also have the advantage of having more experience than you, dealing with the type of person who tends to keep to himself. Granted, I was also awful at it, but I'd say natural charisma balances that out."  
  
Tifa can't help but roll her eyes.   
  
It's getting easier to think about how so many of the people she'd grown to hate had been human, too. Perhaps because, as Genesis kept reminding them all, human - no matter what else was added into the mix - meant being just as prone to failure and mistakes as anyone else.  
  
The main thing was, just how much impact those mistakes had _had_ on the world.  
  
"You know, I wasn't aware Cloud was attracted to anyone for their natural charisma."  
  
She sees Genesis glance at her, out of the corner of his eye, a corner of his mouth twitching. There's something about that expression, though, that doesn't exactly look happy - she's reminded of the times he's talked about the tragedy of the three friends in LOVELESS.  
  
"Hm, you know... I'm not so certain he is, either."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sparring between Genesis and Cloud that's referred to in this chapter could easily be the same as was shown in "Spar With Me," which has Genesis openly interested in Cloud, and Cloud himself reciprocating. In a sense, this is just an extension of Tifa's side of that, a few months down the line.
> 
> I will say that Cloud's well aware that they're having some sort of discussion, and just wants everyone to be able to get along. He, of course... nor the others... quite know the direction that's going to end up taking.


	5. Care / Nibelheim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time they knew of each other, they didn't care much, either one of them.

The first time she heard of him, he didn't care (because words spoken aloud from newspaper clippings were as distant as it came, and with her father not having blind faith in Shinra, or SOLDIER for that matter, the most she felt was the curiosity of a young girl wishing that fairy tales were real).

The first time they encountered one another, he didn't care at all, not because he  _disliked_ her, specifically, but because he didn't know he she was there, didn't care that she existed.

(She only finds out that was  _him_ years later as an adult, after he and Cloud had gotten into an argument about Things Genesis Had Done that had devolved into a shouting match; Genesis is the one who brings up that he'd been there when they'd all gone to the reactor, in between Cloud going red in the face when asking why their new  _friend_ couldn't have thought about more than just himself for once.

She notices two things.

One is that for all his airs and graces, for all that Genesis gave as good as he got, there were more than one moment when Cloud's anger, disappointment, and disgust had caused the ex-SOLDIER to wince, to flinch, to show something like shame, maybe even regret.

The other is that, it must have been him, who had knocked her aside, hurt Cloud. Because unlike Cloud, she  _remembers._ Remembers not being strong enough.

(A third is that she wishes Cloud would argue with  _her_ like that, show her all of those feelings he keeps bottled up inside. He doesn't, though, and even afterwards, he still doesn't.)

The first time he realises that it was her, is when she tells him some time later, when she's ready.)

The first time they really  _meet_ , something strikes her as familiar about him, but he doesn't see her at all, other than as a friend of Cloud's, his eyes entirely taken up by ghosts of people he'd known and lost - just like Cloud. 

Except, he  _wasn't_ Cloud, and every time he reached out, he refused to back down, kept on pushing,  _made_ people hear whatever was on his mind. In some ways, it wasn't fair to say that he  _saw ghosts_ everywhere, either. Echoes, maybe - the living legacies of everyone he'd known and everything he'd done, or so he'd said, once. She still isn't sure if he was just being overly dramatic.

Besides, he'd said another time, an easy smile on his face that hadn't reached his eyes, he'd had enough of living isolated from everyone and apart from civilisation. 

The first time she made him see her, there's an autumn chill in the air, Cloud's two days away by bike, and Marlene's with Barret. Denzel's spending most of the day over at the church, having noticed how she's not in a great mood, and with no one else around to pretend she's fine for she'd closed the bar for the day, rather than have to put up with bad attitudes she had low patience for even at the best of times.

Genesis, however, isn't a customer and doesn't feel the need to pay any attention to the sign on the door.

He walks in almost like he owns the place at around mid-afternoon, wing still out even if it's held in close to his body to keep it from knocking over the chairs and tables, and for a strong moment Tifa feels the intense urge to just take the bottle she'd been pouring from and lob it in the direction of his head.

She stops herself with a sigh, because - for one thing, it wouldn't do any good, and for another thing, it'd just mean a smashed bottle and a mess she'd have to clear up, as well as having to explain to Cloud what'd happened. Which would just be  _embarrassing._

She can feel him watching her, judging her, and she  _hates_ it - she really does. And-

"I'm guessing there's a reason for all of this."

-that's the straw that breaks the chocobo's back, because now she's up and off her seat, right in his face. She doesn't throw a punch, but it's a near thing, and part of her wants to see the look on his face when she finally  _does_.

There's so much kept tightly locked up inside of her, so many thoughts and feelings that she keeps put away for the sake of everyone else because all she wants is to live a happy life where the people she loves can be happy, but now it's  _turned into October again_ and he  _he_ is, and she just-

" _Why?"_ He has the gall to look confused, and her fist tightens, her resolve not to turn this into a fight inside the bar weakening. "You've said it wasn't all your fault, but you sure didn't help! You could've changed things, you could've made things better, but I don't- did you even  _care?"_ She's glad, perhaps for the first time today, that everyone's gone, or out, because this isn't something she'd want the kids to hear. This side of her. And Cloud's already got it out of his system, moved on, she thinks. And she's glad, but - that doesn't mean  _she's_ okay with this. And she almost doesn't  _want_ to see the way Genesis' face is beginning to shut down, because she wants to be angry, wants to feel like she's not just talking to a  _wall_ again, like she had sometimes with Cloud. "That was _my_ _home!"_

The punch flies, right at his chest, and he although he narrows his eyes he hardly moves, either to block or to counter it. The leather straps attached to his coat wouldn't normally make much difference, but she hadn't been expecting a fight, hadn't put her gloves on, and they hurt her hands. 

"What do you want me to tell you? That I had my reasons? You know what they were by now-"

_"I want to know if you even cared!"_

She lands another punch on his chest, and again he barely moves, again her fist hurts, throbbing, the only reason she knows it isn't bleeding is because she's hit harder and faster and come away with only bruises even just like this.

"No."

He doesn't look away. She doesn't know if she wishes he had or not, but when she looks into his eyes she finds that his expression is caught between unreadable and cold. 

In a moment, he reminds her more of the Genesis she thinks of whenever she tries to remember what he must have been like back then, when he'd been able to do such awful things.

She'd wanted her answer, she thinks to herself. Well, there it was.

Tifa backs away, and sits back down on a chair - not the same one, back at the bar itself - and holds herself, trying not to let the need to cry completely take her over.

"Why?" She asks instead, and winces when she realises that her voice still doesn't sound steady. " _Why?"_

She isn't even looking at him, but she hears Genesis sigh heavily, and lean against the closest thing. Maybe the back of a chair. There's a slight rustle of feathers.

"Because back then... I can't say I truly cared about anyone other than myself." She closed her eyes against the words now that they were coming, this truth of who she'd allowed to have live with her, under her roof, but she'd asked for it, she needed to know. "I  _didn't_ care. Not about Shinra, or SOLDIER. Not about my family, not about my friends, and certainly not the rest of the world. I didn't know that what I said that day would have the effect that it did - but nor did I care about that, at the time. All that did matter, was whether I got what I wanted."

"And, did you?"

Genesis let out a bark of bitter laughter. 

"No," he said, once it had died out. "He told me to rot." He didn't say anything, and there were a few minutes of awkward silence before the former SOLDIER sighed again. "To be fair... I can't say I hadn't deserved it. In retrospect, I could say that about a great many things."

She nodded, because what else could she say, to that?

"And... now. Do you care  _now?"_ She looks up, to be sure, only to find him looking away, that wing of his still there and still held defensively close. "Well? Do you?"

She needs to know, needs to _hear_   _him_   _say it_ , no matter how he acts, because no matter what you can say without them, words are important. Telling people how you feel. Being able to admit it.

"... _yes."_

She can't help but breathe in sharply, because it hurts as much as it heals, to hear that.

Hurts, because if he'd cared before, none of this would have happened. But heals, because now - now... things can change. She hopes they can change.

"I..." 

"If Edge were attacked," Genesis says slowly, "if... any of you..." he trailed off, closing his eyes, the glow of his eyes fading from the shadows of his face. " _To become the dew that quenches the land, to spare the sands, the seas, the skies..._ I made a promise, Tifa. The next time something like that happens, I want to  _save_ the world, not be the reason it's damned."

She nods, feeling her earlier anger drain out of her, leaving her feeling exhausted and empty. 

"I don't... I don't forgive you," she says, because she isn't sure if she can. Not for that. Not ever. "But - I'm glad to hear that. So... thank you, I think."

"You think?"

"Hey, don't push your luck."

He surprises her by laughing, this time without the bitter note, and heading over to where she'd been when he'd walked in. Halfway there his wing loses some of the tension it'd kept for all this time, and disappears, turning into so many feathers that she's going to tell  _him_ to clean up, later. But for now, she just takes the time to idly watch them fall, one by one. Some on the tables, some on the chairs, and some reaching all the way to the floor. She reaches over and picks one up before it floats past her head, and wonders at how sleek it is.

She almost thinks he's going to disappear back off to his room above the bar, but then he comes back out with an extra glass, and carries over the bottle and the glass she'd been using over to the table she'd collapsed onto, with just enough room for two.

 _I'm willing to try again,_ the gesture said to her.  _If you'll let me._

 


	6. Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Timeline wise, set for the most part after the "Communication" and "Care" chapters.

He doesn't notice, the first times it happens.

He leans over Tifa's shoulder to look at something, and she shoves him away, which is only a short-lived victory given that he's right back in her space a moment later, because he wasn't done looking.

Sitting next to her sometimes at mealtimes, reaching past her to get the salt, a bit extra of this or that - and food, readily available even just like this, was comparatively a  _luxury_ compared to years on the run and taking what he, and whether he liked it or not, Hollander, could find - enough to have her complain that he was getting in her way, did he need to swap places with her, saying that he was acting worse than Marlene and Denzel  _combined._

Small things. The way he'd brush past her, and she'd shove back, the way she'd hit him when she was mad, but he'd seen how she fought, and the fists that could punch through walls even unenhanced went for him with tempered strength.

Cloud had always preferred having his own space, and Genesis had respected that - most of the time, at least. When he hadn't felt the need to make a point of something, of course. 

("Are you like this with Cloud?" she'd said archly one day, when he'd sat himself squarely into the other side of the seat she was in, when there was another one not all that far away.

"I have no idea what you mean," he'd said, and he hadn't, because he didn't understand.)

Then they spar, and he learns the way that she moves in a fight rather than behind the bar or in front of the stove, her body moving with his and then, eventually, pinning him against the ground. She feels warm, and real, and alive.

He finds her beautiful, then.

Not just aesthetically attractive, as he'd seen that the moment he'd laid eyes on her - but the lines of determination on her face, and the strength that was only suggested in the way that she walked.

Even if it didn't change anything else, it certainly makes certain things more... awkward. And yet, at the same time, he resolves not to allow this to overcome him; if the times when they brush against one another become more charged, if at times he feels his heart thud loudly enough he fears that Cloud, only a few feet away, will hear it as he attempts to talk normally - well, he covers it up with a charm-filled smile and if she asks him if he's attempting to do...  _something_ , with her, he asks her  _only if you want to._

She backs off, blushing, and the next time he sits down next to her, it's without the same carefree attitude that he'd had before, without the ignorance of the way it  _feels,_ and he could have sat anywhere else, next to anyone else, anywhere else would have been less awkward, but he doesn't-

Besides, Denzel's next to Cloud on the other couch, and Marlene's on the floor in the middle of them, with a sheet of old paper that'd already been used on one side, colouring pencils scattered around her and drawing as the adults talk.

He finds himself wishing that he could spread his wing, but even in the space that there is, he'd have to sit up in order to unfurl it properly, even just to curl around him (them) again, and the effort just isn't worth it. So instead, while Cloud's talking about the latest trip to Kalm and Tifa's talking about how that should affect the prices of supplies sent to Edge, Genesis leans in, taking up just that much more of the seat space.

His breathing evens out, and his eyes slowly flutter shut, lulled to a sense of peace by familiar voices, the lingering smell of Corel wine and the food they'd had earlier, and Tifa's shampoo in his nose.

...

"You know," Cloud says to her as she's trying to figure out what to do with herself when she has Genesis like that, all fast asleep and comfortable up against her, "I think he likes you more than he likes me."

He looks like he's trying not to smile too widely. He's failing. Tifa's feeling the heat rise to her cheeks and hoping she doesn't look as red in the face as she feels she's got to be.

 _"Traitor,"_ she mouths at him, not entirely sure what'd wake up the sleeping SOLDIER and not entirely sure if she wants to find out.

"You could just shove him off, you know," Cloud continues, in more of a whisper.

"Did he ever do this to you?" she whispers back with a sigh. 

Cloud nods, which makes her feel at least a little better - though it also makes her wonder if perhaps it was just something he did with people he trusted. Falling asleep on them.

She feels sort of proud, that she's been allowed into that group, because as much as she's got reason to hate him, his life hasn't exactly been all that great either, and... doesn't everyone need to be able to have peaceful moments like these, once in a while?

"I walked in on them once," Denzel said, a look caught somewhere between unsettled and morbidly fascinated on his face, "and he'd wrapped that wing of his around him, except Cloud was there, too."

"I remember that," Cloud said, disgruntled and shifting in place, with an obvious embarrassment from the memory, and Marlene, who'd been quiet up until then, let out a giggle that she instantly tried to stifle.

For a moment, it looked like Genesis was about to wake up again, with the way that he shifted against her as she held her breath, but he just sighed and relaxed into her again.

"I think it's cute," Marlene says, quietly but decisively. 

 _Cute._ Marlene wasn't the one with an entire ex-SOLDIER with rather a lot of loose hair leaning his weight against her, the hair itching and tickling wherever it wasn't soft, his slow breathing warming and cooling her arm.  _Cute_ wasn't the right word for it, not really. She didn't think so, at least.

Cute was for small animals, and Marlene when she wasn't being a handful, or the kids in general when they were asleep. Genesis wasn't a kid, and he wasn't a small animal, though the way he didn't care where those feathers went sometimes made her wonder.

No, he was a strong, dangerous former SOLDIER who apparently liked to sidle up to her whenever he wasn't needed as much as when he was, who also liked to flirt and lay on the charm, and-

 _You're getting into dangerous territory here, you know that,_ she says to herself.  _This one's no hero. He's not even nice._

Which, she knew. She knew that. Only too well.

Cloud raised an eyebrow at her, and she glared powerlessly back.

...

The next time it happened, he leaned over her shoulder to look at the list she was writing without even thinking and she tensed, instead of pushing him away. He backs away, uncertain if things have changed, uncertain what it had meant to wake up only to find himself still resting against Tifa's shoulder.

_"Good morning," she'd said, the dry irony clear by the fact that the sun wasn't streaming through the window, and he knew there and then that there was something he wanted, so badly, his heart thudding in his ears-_

He moves away, leaning against the nearby doorway, wondering if he wasn't  _welcome_ , now, somehow. Feeling colder. Crossed his arms as he waited for her to either talk, or leave.

"Cid's got a new type of airship being made," she said, moving but not leaving. Walking closer, closing the distance. Eyes still on the piece of paper that Genesis hadn't managed to finish reading, pointing something out on it. "See?"

And he does, her notes on what was apparently more designed to be a freight carrier for long haul flight somehow not as important as the fact that he could feel her body against his as he read, and something inside of him uncoiled, relaxed, and he let out a breath of relief.

"It looks as though it'll be slow," he says, rather than any number of the things racing through his head that he can't give voice to, doesn't have the words for.

"Oh, it will be. But it'll take a lot less effort to get something from one end of the Planet to another, you know?"

"And cost fuel."

She nudges him with her elbow. 

" _You_ cost fuel," she says, all in good natured humour, "but we're keeping you around anyway, aren't we?"

"So, Cloud's the delivery boy and I'm, what?"

"I'm not sure yet," she says, and he can feel her hum. "I'm still deciding between courier and bouncer."

Genesis  _splutters._ He'd been called many things, done many things, but this-

" _Bouncer?"_

"Well, it's either that, or bodyguard. I'd have Cloud take the position, but..."

He begins to laugh, at the idea of Cloud staying in one place, Cloud just staying there to look intimidating, when he only looked intimidating when you had him on his toes in the middle of a fight and his opponent realised just who they were dealing with. The rest of the time, Cloud looked about as dangerous as a fluffy chocobo chick.

"Point taken," he says, and Tifa walks away, as though being close was normal, and he can still feel warmth against him, can't help wondering if this can be normal... _wants_ it to be normal.


	7. Quiet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She finds that it's too quiet, without him there; she's too accustomed to his presence.

Marlene's helping Tifa rinse glasses and dry them off so that there's less work to be done in the morning, but it's the second time she's looked over and Tifa's been staring into space toward the door, and she can't help her frown. 

Now, Tifa's started worrying. Rubbing harder on the glasses with her cloth, and chewing the insider of her cheek sometimes. 

"You wanna talk about it?" she asks, and Tifa jumps, thankfully not letting go of the glass. Not that they were that breakable anyway, given they served all sorts in here - including ex-SOLDIERs and Turks - but even so. It'd be bad if there were any accidents and anything got cracked. 

"Nothing's wrong, Marlene. I'm fine."

Marlene hummed. 

"...It's okay to say you're lonely sometimes, you know." Tifa looked away, and maybe she meant to make it look normal, but Marlene was old enough to know better, and she'd known Tifa for a  _long time_ now. "I've always got you and Denzel whenever I'm here, and Cloud too, when he comes over, but I always feel lonely when I haven't seen Daddy for a while too."

Tifa looked guilty for a moment, which wasn't what she'd wanted at all, but then she shook her head.

"I'm okay. Really, I am. It's just... I guess it really does get kinda lonely around this place with only the three of us, huh?"

"We can call in on Cloud? I think he's still in town for a while yet."

It'd been nice, back when it'd been her and Tifa and Cloud and Denzel, and then everyone plus Genesis, but then at some point things had gotten complicated, and there'd been a few arguments, slammed doors and all, and in the end... Cloud had moved out.

Not too far away, and he still came over almost every other day, whenever he wasn't running errands or going on deliveries, but even so. Where once Cloud and Tifa had tried being their parents, everyone had realised eventually that it just hadn't been working out. That maybe a bit of distance was for the best. 

Cloud seemed to be happier for it, at least, and Marlene could still remember the way Tifa had just seemed amused when she'd shaken her head at the way he'd told them, shyly, how he'd had less headaches since he wasn't staying above a noisy bar anymore.

"Maybe," Tifa says in the here and now, and given that talking to Cloud, no matter where he lived or how far away he was, usually helped... then... "it's just, everything feels so quiet."

"Cloud wouldn't say that," Marlene said with a barely suppressed giggle. 

"No," Tifa hummed, "he probably wouldn't." She smiled, and for a moment, Marlene thought she'd figured it out, and things were fixed, but then Tifa sighed, and maybe things weren't all that completely fixed after all. "It's just, it's been three days already. I never really figured Rocket Town was all that far away, but then, usually..." 

Another sigh.

Marlene's eyes grew wider, as she realises, because she doesn't think this has happened before, really, because while everyone always kind of expected Cloud to be gone sometimes, it was just when he stopped  _talking_ to anyone that things went wrong. 

But... no, Tifa  _had_ missed him. Just like she sometimes did now when he wasn't all that far away. It just hadn't, she just hadn't noticed as much at first. Because things had been going so well.

Which meant-

"You... miss him. Don't you?"

Tifa rolled her eyes.

"Well, I wouldn't put it like  _that_... he's aggravating, and he's hard to put up with, and he makes a mess of the place whenever he so much as shakes that wing of his... and he's  _rude_ , and full of himself, and... at the same time, I guess I'm just used to him being here now, you know?"

Marlene thought it over for a good long moment, and nodded.

She didn't think she  _did_ understand entirely, not the way Tifa meant, but then... all that was really important was if Tifa was happy, and not getting hurt.

...

Another full two days later, and Tifa's in her room, sitting on her bed. 

Genesis still wasn't back, and maybe she was just a bit sensitive about things like that, people disappearing and not saying anything, because when Cid had phoned and said  _yer feathered freeloader's arrived, said he was sidetracked on the way here,_ she'd asked to have Genesis himself on the line, and the moment she'd heard his voice, as if nothing was even wrong, she'd spent half an hour telling him that next time, he'd damn well not let her wait for someone else to call, and he'd tell her what was going on  _himself_ -

Only for him to tell her that he didn't have a phone. That he  _hadn't had_   _one_ in all the time they'd known him. 

Because of course he hadn't, she thought to herself, now. He'd almost always been in Edge, almost always stayed with them - with her, really. Everyone'd known that if you wanted to find Genesis, all you needed to do was ask Cloud, or ask Tifa, or go here or there, and there he'd be. Without fail. He made enough noise for it.

And when he'd gone, she'd been  _happy_ to have the bar to herself and the kids for a time, for the peace and quiet and space to think.

Now- 

Now, she didn't know what to think. She'd found herself worrying, yes, but also... before she'd even had room to think that anything was wrong, she'd turned around, expecting him to be there, and the space had been empty. She'd said something, and paused, expecting him to say something, and there'd only been an awkward silence. She'd gone to sit down, avoiding the space on the seat they'd come to share that he preferred, only to realise that he wasn't there.

 _He's coming back, though,_ she reminded herself, not for the first or last time.  _I told him we're going to get him a phone when he gets back._ Which, she should've done earlier. Months ago. But none of them had thought it was that important, and other things were going on, and then... 

A slight breeze came in through her open window, and she notices a single black feather attempt to float free before she moves fast enough to catch it again. She spun it between her fingers, this way and that, noticing the way that the light played off against the inky dark colour of it, the way that sometimes it seemed to absorb all of the light around it, while at other times it seemed almost pale white.

 _You shed enough of_ _them we could make them into quills,_ she'd suggested once, half seriously, thinking of the extra income that would give them, and how the feathers were hardly in limited supply,  _or ornaments, accessories..._

He'd refused. Marlene had thought it'd be a  _wonderful_ idea, but Genesis had put his foot down. 

 _Still,_ Tifa thought,  _it's a nice idea. I don't know if it'd suit me, not really, but... I could still..._

It's difficult, and a little more fiddly and aggravating than she'd prepared herself for, but - perhaps that's fitting, given who the feather came from.

_..._

Cloud does a double take when he first sees her, but he doesn't say anything until they're both behind the bar, on the stairs. He studies her for a moment, and she thinks that perhaps if he'd looked at her like this a year ago even, maybe less, her heart would be beating much harder, much faster, hoping for... something. 

Now, her heart is still beating, but it's anxiety and not anything else that's causing it.

"Is that... one of Genesis'?" 

Tifa touches the left side of her head, where a few strands of her hair were now tied into a small braid, and after a point there was a single black feather attached there. It wasn't perfect, but it stayed, and that was what mattered.

"Does that... make it strange? 

Cloud shrugged. 

"Does he know?"

Tifa shrugged back.

"I figured, if he insists on leaving them around here, I'm usually cleaning them up after him anyway, so." She swallowed. "What do you think?"

"I think," Cloud said, slowly, "that's not up to me. Is it?" He looked her in the eye, and she felt a little heat rising to her cheeks. "But if that's what you want, don't let me stop you."

...

It's a strange weight, at first, and one that takes a little while to get used to. It hangs, dangling near her face when she leans over, clear and obvious and there. Flies freely when she swings her head, with far more momentum than a simple earring, or tucked-away bangs.

 _Annoying, demands attention, and just a bit pretty, just like him,_ she thinks to herself wryly.

Marlene gasps when she first realises what's in Tifa's hair, and she almost wishes she could have captured the moment on camera somehow, it was that cute. But then, she'd have to explain why she'd made such a cute expression in the first place.

"That's one of-!" the girl said, openly staring.

"Do you think it suits me?"

"Do  _you_ like it? That's the most important thing, right?"

Tifa hummed, sensing that, yet again, they weren't really talking about feathers here. 

"I think so," she said. "But I think I'd have to wear it in a bit more to be sure first."

Marlene nodded, with an expression of determination on her face that Tifa had seen plenty of times on the girl's father.

"I think that's a good idea," she said, with an extra nod.

...

She doesn't notice the actual moment that Genesis opens the door to the bar, having told herself over the past week and a half to stop looking up every time someone came in. But then the clientele grow quiet for a moment and she does, just in case there was something she needed to deal with, and she sees him, hair tousled by the wind even though it'd been tied back and out of his face, and familiarly glowing blue eyes finding her immediately.

He makes a beeline to the bar, and opens his mouth - to say something about how he'd worried her, or something about the trip, she didn't know. Because right when she'd almost forgotten that she was wearing it, she noticed the way that his eyes had settled on the feather in her hair.

"Is that... one of mine?" he asks, and she could say no, because there are crows and ravens in Edge just like everywhere else, but he knows his own feathers better than anyone. Or he should, at least.

She shrugs. 

"You left it here," she says,  _you left me and you didn't - couldn't - call. You made me feel like we were something special, maybe, and then you vanished._

"I did." 

He sounds awkwardly detached, a little raspy, as though he hasn't spoken in a while, though knowing how far it was from Edge to Rocket Town and back, maybe he hadn't.

"I'm still deciding if I think it looks good on me," she says, remembering what she'd told Marlene. "What do you think?"

She touches it, still a little self-conscious, and notices the way that his eyes follow her hand's movements. 

"On you," he says, leaning forward and lifting the attached feather gently with one red gloved hand, "it looks... as though you wear my feathers better than I do."

She feels her face heat up, and she doesn't  _quite_ resist the urge to flick a still slightly damp cloth in his direction. She doesn't mind the cheek and flirtatious charm as much as she could, though.

 _Words aren't the only way you can tell someone how you feel, after all,_ she thinks to herself.  _And it's true. Maybe... I might not have been able to say this, with only my own words._

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set chronologically very early on/not long after he's woken after DoC, Genesis is aggravated to find that people expecting him to be taller has never truly gone away.

He's sitting alone in his room, the room they'd given him at least, still feeling vaguely disoriented from having woken up after so long sealed and asleep, let along seeing the world so changed. 

In a while, he thinks he'll put everything back on; his uniform, the coat that had carried him all of these years, his boots, his sword. For the moment, he puts a hand over his face, thankful there isn't a mirror with which to look at his reflection as he slouches there in borrowed sleeping clothes which don't quite fit right. 

It isn't just the world that has changed - he has, too, not only from degradation but by his own choices, and from the choices that others had forced upon him.

He remembers fighting the Deepground soldiers, each one at least the strength of a SOLDIER yet with far less inhibitions with regards to cruelty, seeming to take pleasure in the death, the pain, the killing, in a way that even he never had, remembers it as though it were only a few days ago instead of several  _years_ back.

Genesis runs a hand through his hair, and wonders when it had grown this long. It's a pure miracle that it isn't tangled and snarled to hell and back.

There's a knock on the door, and he lets out a breath before standing, reminding himself that his sword and materia were in reach, that he could knock anyone back with his wing if need be, and that there should only be a limited few who would be able to come up even without all of that.

As it turned out, it was Tifa. Hair tied back, she was already dressed for the bar, a tea towel over one arm.

She opened her mouth. For a moment, he thought that she might say something to remind him that he was living in her home, that he should make himself useful, remind him of his place in a world that no longer cared for SOLDIER, that didn't need  _saving._

Instead, she closed her mouth again, a frown forming on her face.

"I... always imagined you were taller, for some reason."

Genesis blinked at the unexpected non-sequitur, a jab on his height that he hadn't heard in years, and realised that without his boots to give him that extra bit of height, there was barely any difference between them. Tifa didn't have to look up at all, in order to meet his eyes.

Eyes that are now narrowing into a scowl, because it had always been bad enough having to stand next to Angeal and Sephiroth in both functions and battle and have them be a good head over him, but that it still persisted even  _now-_

His hand clenched into a fist at his side, and he shoved down the desire to just slam the door in her face.

He didn't. Nor did he tell her in no uncertain terms to  _get lost_ , because he knew that the last thing he needed right now was to have his gracious host who seemed not to appreciate his presence have any reason to kick him out - or, to kick him, in general, with what he'd heard of her even just so far.

"Was there something you wanted, or were you just here to comment on my height?"

She has the gall to hide a laugh behind her hand, which is barely disguised as a cough. He can't think of anyone it would fool.

"Actually," she says, "we're going to have breakfast in a few minutes. If you want to eat, you'd better get dressed and come down."

She heads back down the hall, and he can hear her footsteps going down the stairs, and he closes the door behind her. Going down to eat with the others is the last thing he feels up to right now - even if his stomach tells him that he needs to.

Nevertheless, he pulls on his clothes, leaving his sword and coat behind, yet hiding away materia on his person to use in case the situation called for it, and when he puts on his boots he tugs them on with a fair bit more anger than normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wiki says that Tifa is 5' 5", and lists no height for Genesis, yet with me liking the idea of him being short (at least, shot enough compared to the others he's usually associated with), I can't help seeing him as something like only an inch taller than her at 5' 6" or thereabouts without heels.


End file.
